I do not agree with Roberta Bondar’s statement: "The migration of deer ticks [blacklegged ticks] into the Kingston area, and the increased incidents of Lyme disease is an example of the kind of environmental changes that climate change is bringing."

My peer-reviewed scientific research shows that migratory songbirds import blacklegged tick larvae and nymphs into Canada, and are widely dispersing them countrywide. In fact, a heavily tick-infested songbird can initiate a new blacklegged tick population. The number of immature blacklegged ticks on migratory song birds has remained constant for decades — long before climate change was coined. Furthermore, the adult female blacklegged tick does not migrate at all, and crawls a maximum of six metres in her lifetime.

I believe federally funded researchers who publish peer-reviewed papers on tick expansion numbers, ascribed to being caused by climate change, are wasting millions of taxpayer dollars. Moreover, their research is not helping patients get diagnosed and treated in a timely manner. Alarmingly, we have 3,000 patients going to the United States for diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease and associated tick-borne diseases.

Any daily temperature increases are not putting any extinction stressors on the blacklegged female. She lays her eggs in the cool, moist leaf litter, where she has typically laid them for millennia, and is very comfortable in this microhabitat. She does not have extinction stress in this environment and, thus, does not lay more eggs. The seemingly more ticks in the Kingston area, and everywhere else, is not because of climate changing. In reality, public awareness is the key factor because more people, veterinarians and pet groomers are looking for them.

John D. Scott

Fergus, Ont.

Distancing city from Sir John A.

The wailing and gnashing of teeth that must accompany any mention of Sir John A. Macdonald may become our official municipal policy. Apparently, in the name of inclusiveness, our councillors have asked staff to make recommendations in order to give opposing voices a chance to make "additions, alterations and amendments" to events that are Macdonald-centric.

Why stop there? Let us once again spend great sums of money on new welcome signs that accurately reflect just how inclusive we can be. I suggest, "Sir John A. Lived Here — We’re Sorry" or "Home to Canada’s First Prime Minister — Feel Free to be Offended".